N.Y. Daily News reporter claims to have started Hagel-'Friends of Hamas' rumor

2/20/13 9:25 AM EST

A New York Daily News reporter claims to have inadvertently started a rumor about Chuck Hagel receiving money from a group called "Friends of Hamas," explaining that it all started with a joke.

Reporter Dan Friedman writes that he sarcastically asked a Republican congressional aide which controversial groups the nominee for Defense secretary had addressed in the past, citing the nonexistent "Friends of Hamas" as hyperbole.

The next day, the conservative website Breitbart.com ran a story titled "Secret Hagel Donor? White House Spox Ducks Question on 'Friends of Hamas.'"

Friedman notes, “I became part of an inadvertent demonstration of how quickly partisan agendas and the Internet can transform an obvious joke into a Washington talking point used by senators and presidential wannabes.”